Gilbert Arenas Foresees Luka Doncic’s All-Time Status Coming to Fruition With ‘Multiple Championships’

Luka Doncic‘s impeccable regular season campaign earned him his fifth All-NBA first-team nod, an astonishing accomplishment considering Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic and Dirk Nowitzki managed only four each in their careers. The Dallas Mavericks superstar’s resume in his six years in the league is so impressive that Gilbert Arenas believes it’s good enough to earn him a first-ballot Hall of Fame nod. On the latest episode of the Gil’s Arena podcast, the retired NBA star said,

“His trajectory is already what it is. He’s already on a fast track. The things he’s doing is unreal for his age. Unreal for just basketball itself. So winning a championship, not winning a championship, he’s pushed to where he is. Right now, if he stopped today, he’s first-ballot Hall of Famer with those stats.” 

When asked if Doncic is already a top-20 player, Arenas responded that longevity and championships are critical criteria for rising that high in the all-time rankings. He cited Tracy McGrady as an example, claiming only a handful of players were as talented as he was, but he couldn’t dominate the league due to injuries and was thus left out of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.

Arenas is spot on. Doncic’s stats and accolades are jaw-dropping, however, he won’t be considered an all-time great unless he adds championships to his resume. On the contrary, adding regular-season accolades without winning in the playoffs would do more harm to his legacy, as he’d be labeled a talented star who couldn’t get the job done when the pressure was at its peak.

Arenas also noted that for Doncic to push into the top 15, he’d have to win championships with the Mavericks. If he leaves to team up with another superstar, there’d be asterisks on his achievement, like Kevin Durant’s title wins with the Golden State Warriors. The retired NBA star has plenty of hopes for the Slovenian superstar, and why wouldn’t there be when he’s being compared to greats like Larry Bird?

Chandler Parsons’ bold statement about Luka Doncic’s ability compared to Larry Bird

The Luka Doncic hype train is chugging along at full speed because of his stunning performances in these playoffs, but when he was compared to Larry Bird, Paul Pierce had to pull the stop chain. The Hall of Famer claimed the Boston Celtics icon is a ‘top 5-10’ player, and the Mavericks sensation cannot be compared to him. But Chandler Parsons disagreed. On the latest episode of the Run It Back podcast, he said,

“Hot take, Luka’s already better than Larry Bird was. He doesn’t have the resume, he doesn’t the championships, but he’s a better basketball player. As a basketball player, Luka Doncic can do everything Larry Bird did and more. I know the old guys are gonna say, ‘Oh it’s a different game… Luka could never play back then.’ He doesn’t have to. He plays now and he’s just better.”

As Parsons mentioned, Bird’s resume is better than Doncic’s, but ability-wise it’s debatable. The Mavericks superstar is one of the most potent offensive players in NBA history, while the Celtics icon was a sensational two-way player. Both players have a strong case and it eventually boils down to preference, but as far as legacies go, there’s a lot Doncic has to achieve before surpassing Bird on the all-time list.